In My Kitchen January 2015

Welcome to 2015! Hope all of your New Year wishes come true. This photo is of the fireworks in Melbourne, taken from our balcony – don’t the Melbourne buildings look like giant sparklers! What a way to bring in the New Year, with my wonderful husband, listening to Bruno Mars ‘Uptown Funk’ (my favourite song at the moment) with champagne in hand! We decided to have a quiet one at home, how did you spend your New Years?

Looking for some kitchen inspiration? Me and some wonderful friends from all across the world, gather every month at Fig Jam & Lime Cordial, where the lovely Celia hosts this amazing kitchen collaboration. What’s in your kitchen? Come join us (by the 10th of every month) to meet wonderful new friends and inspiration, while learning and laughing together.

In My Kitchen . . .

. . . cookbooks! Of course! What would my kitchen be without at least one! But I was graced with 3! After watching Jamie’s Comfort Food on TV, the Christmas elves must have heard my wishes (thanks Mum & Dad). Our niece and nephew’s school made a cookbook with some recipes of student’s favourites dishes – my mother-in-law has a family pudding recipe in there, handed down through the generations! Looking forward to trying this & keeping it a family tradition! Lastly is a culinary addition to my kitchen, the world’s most famous culinary reference book. WOW! Looking forward to being inspired by this book.

In My Kitchen . . .

. . . Izzy Azalea, our new bonsai. Christmas present from our nephews. She doesn’t really live in my kitchen but it’s so hot today & tomorrow she can stay inside so she doesn’t get burnt. She will flower hopefully in Spring.

In My Kitchen . . .

. . . hopefully the correct flour to make sourdough bread (I will be calling my sourdough Riley, who is Priscilla’s grandchild). Celia, can you please let me know if this flour is alright to use, as I’ll start my sourdough tomorrow. It’s so hard to find the correct, good quality flour

In My Kitchen . . .

. . . salted caramel fudge from Aldi! OMG!! So good! Thank you to Liz from Bizzy Lizzy’s Good Things for getting me hooked on this delicious fudge! It melts in your mouth and reminds me of good, old-fashioned fudge – I think I’ll be stocking up on this for sure! I knew I should have bought more than one box for Christmas day 😉

In My Kitchen . . .

. . is my $5 bargains from Spotlight – ravioli cutters! I can’t remember the original price it had on them, something crazy like $19.95 but I just had to have them for that price! They’ll come in handy for the next batch of pasta I’ll make!

In My Kitchen . . .

. . . another pressie from our nephews – some Christmas recipe cards. There’s some great little tips in here that I never really thought of before. These can be our go-to cards when I’m stuck for inspiration 😉 Pick a card, any card . . .

In My Kitchen . . .

. . . some gluten free flour to try for my dumpling wrappers. It’s something I’ve always wanted to try but never had a reason to until our last class in school, where we had to prepare dishes as part of our special dietary requirements. I think these could be good to try if I ever had people who want to try my dumplings but have Coeliac Disease.

And finally In My Kitchen . . .

. . . a recipe round up for the past month, in case you missed them. My spicy salsa, my whole egg mayonnaise and my homemade sausage rolls. Enjoy and remember, I’d love you to make them so if you give them a try, let me know your thoughts – you all inspire me to keep going.

Hi Vicki, the first thing I’d like to try would be the Ghanaian groundnut stew pge 124 – I like trying new and different things I haven’t tried before and this looks pretty amazing! What’s your first recipe you’d like to try? Thank you for coming IMK, see you next month x

My sourdough starter is doing it’s thing right now! So excited. I’ve been hankering after the Comfort book too but alas no elves have been listening…..Happy New Year – that’s an awesome view from your balcony x

Good luck on your sourdough – can’t wait to see how it turned out! Very exciting. I hope to show you all more of the wonderful Melbourne throughout the year. I still haven’t completely read the whole cookbook but it’s something I look forward to doing in some down time x

Hi Nicole, i watched the fireworks in Melbourne from my balcony too, in my PJs. we thought they were spectacular, especially the heart shapes. There are a lot of peeps promoting Also fudge, I must look for it. Good luck with the sourdough…

Re the flour – as I mentioned in the instructions, you’ll need to get a bread or bakers flour to feed the starter – I’m not sure the 00 will have sufficient protein. Bread flour is much higher in protein than regular flour – 13 – 14% – and the supermarket versions are completely fine for feeding the starter. Defiance or Manildra are both good brands. Good luck!

Thank you Marian, its lovely meeting you and Happy 2015. Thank you for your kind words – my sourdough is still being thought about. We’re having very warm days at the moment so it will wait a couple more days 🙂

Happy new year Nichole and what a wonderful view you had of the fireworks. It’s always lovely to receive cookbooks as presents, enjoy cooking from them. Look forward to seeing how your sourdough works out… still waiting for my starter to arrive in the post. 🙂

Lots of great books for you this Chrissie. Gosh I must have a faded copy of Larousse somewhere in the house. Can’t believe that is still a text book.. I sell that Caputo flour.at work. It is a specialist cross over for pizza and bread. it is high hydration and designed to stretch without tearing. There are lots of videos and links on the website. Happy New Year

So that flour would be ok to use Tania for my sourdough? I can’t believe you have the Larousse, how long have you had it? I hope mine one day looks faded & well loved 🙂 All the best for 2015, see you next month at IMK

HI Nicole – first things first, thanks SO MUCH for including me in your Inspiring Blogger’s Award. What a lovely surprise. Mwah! Now where to start with all of your goodies? Clever name for that azalea, I must say. The Eat, Play, Cook book looks very professional. Not like those old photocopied school fundraiser cookbooks of yore. And then there’s the caramel. Say no more! Thanks for the festive tour. cheers Fiona xx

You’re so welcome Fiona, thank you for inspiring me. How cute is Izzy? Thank you for your beautiful tweet too, you made my day 🙂 How cool is that school cookbook! We never had anything like that in my day, that’s for sure! Fudge . . . caramel fudge . . . salted caramel fudge . . . why did I do that, now I wish I had some 😉 Lovely having you as a friend, all the best for 2015

Happy New Year! I didn’t know you were in Melbourne … ooh, jealous! Melbourne is one of my fave cities (my husband is an Aussie … from Perth).
Love some of those things you’ve got in your kitchen, too, especially those bargain ravioli cutters! 🙂

Happy New Year Helen, hope 2015 is a good one. Melbourne is such a great city and we weren’t too disappointed with the fireworks display – glad I was home not in the city though, it’s way too crazy for me out there. Hopefully if you ever come for holidays, you’ll stop in Melbourne 🙂 I knew I should have bought more ravioli cutters – such great presents for all my friends!

I’m not sure where my sister got those Christmas recipe cards from, I can ask her if you like. I should have bought more ravioli cutters as I’ve had so many people ask me about them for that price! Next time 🙂 Lovely seeing you again Maree, see you next month at IMK

Lovely little ravioli cutters. Do they have any left? And what a fab view of Melbourne from your balcony. At last Melbourne is putting on a spectacular light show on NYEve, but I never get in there. Maybe next year.

I’m not sure, I can go check Spotlight out for you if you like? We’re a bit spoilt for view where we live but I’m not sure if I’d head into the city to watch them, better view from the TV! Great seeing you again Francesca, see you next month for IMK

I’m so going to spotlight I neeeeed those cutters 🙂 I have always made my sourdough Penelope, daughter of Priscilla from bakers flour… I just buy the 5kg bag of Wallbys bakers flour from Woolworths or Coles… Thanks for sharing and Happy New Year! Liz xx

I’m on a sourdough kick at the moment. Good luck on your sourdough adventure. It’s a wild ride. I really hope my local ALDI hasn’t sold out of that fudge yet. I’m heading straight out tomorrow to get some if I can.

Good luck with the fudge – I hope they haven’t sold out! I was going to start my sourdough today but I got up too late so I may start it tomorrow morning, even though todays temperature is better. Great seeing you Jennifer, see you soon x

Oh my goodness, lovely lady, there are so many wonderful things in your kitchen! Glad you liked the Aldi fudge… I buy about a dozen boxes for my son every Christmas (he gets half in December, the other half in January for his birthday). I can make fudge, but the Aldi one is his favourite! I see they had a clotted cream one this year as well. Can I just tell you, it was good! Looking forward to seeing your bread making adventures. I have yet to try sour dough… happy cooking and happy new year too! xox

Thank you Liz for you lovely words. I’m going to try the clotted cream now – if there’s any left 😉 Will keep you posted with all things sourdough – I’m a bit excited & nervous, there’s some great breads out there! Looking forward to your IMK – Happy New Year & happy cooking too x